The Bitter Promise
by DrkVrtx
Summary: "I rise...as chaos. As death. As the rightful Queen".


**The Bitter Promise**

The darkness was thick and oppressive around her, accompanied by a deafening silence that had sunk into her mind and loudly hammered at its innards. No matter where she looked around herself, all that existed was darkness, an absolute absence of any form of existence. It had been so long, and yet she still wondered from time to time how it was she was able to see this - if it could be called 'seeing'. For as nothing existed around her, the absence of everything becoming its own, twisted form of reality, she similarly did not exist. She possessed no body, and yet she saw. And yet, she felt. Cold, tight chains were clamped around the wrists of a body she knew she no longer possessed, and yet she could not deny that form of bondage for she had grown well accustomed to it.

Her arms were strung up, held high to the side of her. She struggled ceaselessly against them, filling the void with the sound of rattling chains. They had seemed to tighten over time in response to her efforts, and she knew a constant, burning ache in her shoulders that drew long, seething hisses from cracked, dry lips. Her tongue was thick, heavy and lifeless within her mouth, deprived for too long of the sweet taste that had once sustained her. Looped around her throat was a thicker chain, this one tight and painful against her skin. Some invisible weight was attached to it it seemed, for she could barely lift her forcibly bowed head.

She hung limp and powerless in the solid darkness. Once its master, she was now nothing more than its broken prisoner. Once subservient to her iron will, it now served to corrode her sanity, slowly but surely eating away at the fortress that her mind had been. It seeped in through the minute gaps, a mere wisp of shadow that crept into her unannounced, dark tendrils latching onto her consciousness and feeding like a parasite. It was everywhere, and she could not escape it. It had slipped, cold and careful, into the depths of her being, drawing forth that which she would hate for all eternity and affixing it directly before her eyes.

She watched an infinite loop of events take place, and it drove her mad with the need - the _hunger_ - for revenge. Yet at the same time, it allowed her to hold on to just the barest scrap of her sanity. It proved to be her escape when she screamed into the darkness and pulled fiercely at her chains, pain lancing mercilessly through her. It was her anchor when she strained against the thick chains at her neck, choking her own twisted, feeble existence away in a bid for freedom. In the end, she always failed. Her throat would burn, hoarse from her shrieks of agony and frustration, but she always lifted her eyes to watch.

Palutena, her once sister, standing over her with a look of utter disgust upon her face. The Goddess' staff of office was pointed directly at her, glowing with ethereal light as the Goddess on the ground writhed in agony, her scalp and skin afire with indescribable pain. Palutena and the heavens grew small as she was cast down, slowly diminishing into nothingness as she fell through the domain of Man and sank straight through it as though it were a mere shadow, the realm of the Underworld reaching up greedily to claim her.

Pit, Palutena's favoured, stood before her as she howled in agony and outrage, a hand pressed to her face and failing to alleviate even a scrap of her pain. She looked up at him and saw the very same expression the Goddess had pierced her with, disgust curling the angel's lips as he raised his bow one last time, bloodied fingers drawing back an arrow of pure light that had blasted away her existence.

She hated them. Her hatred of them was so cold it burned, and as the darkness consumed everything around her, the hatred of the Goddess and her angel filled every recess within her.

She screamed at them as she watched the events take place again, and again, and again. She screamed and pulled on the chains at her wrists, wanting nothing more than to bring her arms forward and crush the image before her eyes into dust. She screamed even as she choked upon the chain about her neck, trying to reach forward and sink her teeth deep into the angel's throat. She wanted to tear the life viciously from the wretched creature. She wanted to see the pain in the eyes of her infernal sister as she clutched her pulsing heart in her clawed fingertips. She screamed, but in the end - always - her scream of rage melted into one of pain. Her whole being burned, and she could not escape.

It was cruel that she should know the passage of time, down here in her prison, yet she knew it instinctively. The passing of each day, though there was nothing that indicated it, was something of which she was acutely aware. She had counted each of them, almost treasured the knowledge of each of them. Twenty-five years. Twenty-five long, painful years. Her scream died in her throat, cut through by a racking sob. She bowed her head underneath the invisible weight, and wept bitterly.

The dark prison echoed with her choked scream of rage moments later.

Eyes wet, she looked up suddenly as she saw the tiniest sparkle of light drift down before her face. Another followed it, and then another. And before she could even begin to fathom it, hundreds and thousands of beads of light had begun to fall upon her from on high, though it was impossible for her to determine their origin. They fell and settled upon her, becoming a stream so full and heavy that she found herself utterly surrounded on all sides by light. She hissed angrily, rattling her chains without any care for the pain searing through her. She hated the light. She hated it and wanted to burn it to ash. But then, she noticed something.

The Light-dust fell in droves, its deluge never letting up as it rained down upon her in silence. Almost. She strained her ears and heard it, that sweet, delicious sound. Human suffering. And now she strained her eyes and looked, finally seeing the truth.

Souls. Human souls. Souls ripped from their sacred temple and cast down into the depths where she hung, trapped and tortured. For the first time in twenty-five years, she smiled. It hurt, her dry and cracked lips protesting, but she _smiled_. And then she consumed.

Opening her mouth wide, the Light-dust was sucked into her mouth. Her eyes rolled upwards into her head as the taste hit her tongue and her body shuddered with pleasure. She fed greedily, the sensations a dizzying blur as she relished the distant-sounding screams of the souls as they were drawn into total oblivion. She could feel the chains at her wrist and neck beginning to loosen, beginning to rust and flake away into the depths of the darkness as strength - real strength - returned to her limbs. She broke free with a shout, her raw throat protesting as she laughed full and long and loud. She lifted her hands towards the steady stream of souls as she felt herself rising, swiping them through the air and pulling them towards her gaping lips.

_Life._

Light scorched through the darkness high above, ripping through the walls of her prison. She rose towards it, bathed in the light of souls and closing her eyes as she listened to their beautiful symphony.

_Revenge._

Eyes were slowly pulled open, narrowed as she felt her hate resurface, admonishing her for setting it aside even for a moment. It burned cold at her core, screaming at the parasitic darkness that clung yet still to the edge of her mind and forcing it to flee. The light of her freedom above scorched her eyes, but she propelled herself towards it. Her time of imprisonment was at an end.

xXx

Medusa fell, and the domain of Man reached up and embraced her, drawing her unto itself. She let loose a scream as the cold night air burned her raw, hypersensitive skin. She was naked, her skin set alight with pain as her disorientated senses were bombarded. Dimly, she became aware of the ground beneath her trembling fingers, soft and wet as her hands sank into it. She opened her eyes - and immediately threw her arm across them as a ragged cry left her lips. Her eyes were raw, as sensitive as her new flesh and to open them wide as she had done blasted her senses harshly.

A whisper stirred the cool night air and she cried out again. Having just shakily found her feet, Medusa stumbled backwards as the wind blew gently against her fragile form. Her eyes screwed tightly shut, a hiss of pain escaped her lips as her shoulder knocked into a hard, rough surface and grazed along it. Angered, she turned and threw her eyes open. A mistake. Briefly recognizing the surface as a wall, Medusa was rewarded with a blast of pain that rattled her teeth. She clapped a soiled hand to her face, teeth bared as she hissed and stumbled to the side, her arm extended out before her.

The ground was soft, creeping up between her toes with each step, cool but unforgiving to those who did not respect its condition. Medusa soon slipped, losing her feet before she could even think to react and falling to the side. Her eyes were pulled open by surprise and she screamed as pain lanced into them. She fell against another hard surface, though this one gave way beneath the impact of her body. Her fall appeared to trigger a chain reaction, for several large and solid objects tumbled down around her, a sharp edge catching her shoulder and knocking her to the ground. Medusa gasped as her skin stung.

"What the hell is that ruckus?" came a muffled, masculine voice.

"Sounded like the crates", another responded, equally muffled.

"Go and check on 'em".

Medusa felt cold water at the tips of her fingers. She needed to open her eyes, she had to find out where she was. What she was. Hissing as her skin seared, Medusa cracked an eye open slowly, breathing short and sharply. Her vision watered, but she swept an arm angrily across her face and looked. She had almost fallen into a small puddle of water, one stained by dirt. Around her, boxes had fallen haphazardly, but she had no care for them. Her eye found herself in the muddy reflection of the water, and she knew what she was.

She was beautiful.

Shock pulled her fellow eye open, and she endured the pain without a sound. She gazed down at her unsteady reflection as the wind stirred around her once more. Her skin was smooth, faultless, yet coloured strangely. A light blue tinged with grey that made her look pale, fragile, but beautiful. Her hair was long and thick and black as night, falling across her face and shielding her sore eyes. She pushed a shuddering breath from full, pale lips as she lifted a hand and drew shaking fingers through her hair. She glimpsed markings along the left side of her face, and pulling her hair gently aside, saw an elegant pattern drawn upon her skin, marking a line down from her brow to her chin. The shape of her eyes had been traced with solid black lines, throwing them into powerful contrast with the pale complexion of her face and bringing to her attention the faint grey-blue of her iris.

Her head felt strangely light, and she lifted her hand to her scalp, trembling. A sparkling tear, clean and pure, fell from her eye. It threw ripples across the water, dispersing the impurity within it. Medusa saw herself, and a sob shook her body. She was beautiful, and she was free.

A door opened and warm light spilled into the alley along with the cacophony of voices that the walls of the building had held captive. Two men stepped out into the night, thick around the gut as they stood in the shadows of the narrow space.

"Oh, for the Gods' sake", one cursed as he saw the crates scattered across the ground, "Jorge, get a light. Who - ?"

The man pulled up short as he saw the outline of a figure between the crates, a decidedly feminine figure he realised as he leaned forward. His friend took notice of her too, just as the woman cried out a moment later when a gust of wind blew through the alley. She clutched her arms about herself and curled up tightly, her cry of pain hooking the compassion of the men as they started forward.

"What is she doing out here?" Jorge said, heaving aside a crate.

"Gods!" the man breathed a moment later when he realised the woman was stark naked and as pale as the moon above. The woman trembled in the cold, and the men were transfixed by her beauty, compounded by her fragility as she lay there before them.

"Help me", the man spoke to his friend, snapping from their reverie first. They shifted another crate aside and moved towards her.

Medusa felt them approach before she truly saw them. Deep within her, she felt a hot, rooted hatred begin to stir, its fire spreading through her limbs. It burned hot enough to cause her pain.

"Don't touch me", she said shakily as one of them reached for her. He paused, furrowing his brow with concern.

"It's okay. We're not here to hurt you. We just want take you to safe place".

"Don't!" Medusa told him, wincing as the fire within her grew stronger, gritting her teeth as it ignited a gnawing hunger deep at her core.

"We won't hurt you", said the man, smiling kindly as Medusa struggled to push herself up from the ground. He lifted a gentle hand to her cold shoulder.

"Wretched human!" Medusa screamed, turning wide eyes to the presumptuous man. "_Do not touch me!_"

Her eyes exploded with brilliant white light. The man's lips were ripped open and an almost inhuman shriek burst from them as his own eyes were pulled wide and white light erupted from them. Medusa screamed her rage as she tore the man's soul from his body. Her hatred for humankind scorched from within as the dormant beast residing at her core uncoiled its thick length and lifted its head, opening its jaws wide to feed. Panicked noise came through the doorway as the man reached desperately towards his friend, who stood frozen and wide-eyed in shock. It was too late. The man screamed his last as his flesh hardened to brittle stone.

Medusa collapsed as the light in her eyes dimmed and she pressed her hands across them, shaking her head in rejection. She moaned in a ragged voice, falling back painfully against the edge of a crate as she tried to lift herself to her feet and stumbled. Several others had emerged from the doorway, filling the dark alley with their shadows, looking from the petrified man to the one who stood clutching the wall in an unshakeable state of shock. Finally, they turned to the groaning, hissing woman who shuddered as she pressed pale hands to her face.

The beast poked out its tongue, tasting the residue of the soul she had consumed. Its soft hiss rattled within her as it demanded more. It flicked its tongue against the walls of her core, driving her mad with hunger. The humans stood there, transfixed and waiting to be harvested. She could already taste them upon the air. Her hunger gnawed deep within her and she cried out as she clutched her hands to her stomach, her eyes screwed tightly shut. She knew she mustn't, yet she knew she must. She was _hungry_.

The humans screamed along with her as she opened her eyes once more. Light poured from half a dozen pairs of eyes as Medusa lifted her ragged voice to the night, arms thrown out to her sides as the beast rose up within her. It pushed through the walls of her core, thick and heavy, feeding greedily as she consumed. Men and women turned to stone, their lips frozen in a timeless, silent shriek.

Their brittle forms shattered as Medusa stalked to the entrance of the alley, sweeping them aside callously as she walked on unsteady feet. The town was waking to the presence of something strange and otherworldly within its midst. Townspeople were turning in the direction of the piercing scream that rent the air. Men, women, and children. Even small animals, domestic or otherwise. Medusa knew them all. The beast hissed as it tasted the air with its tongue.

Light exploded from her eyes and a score of nameless folk screamed. Medusa fell to her knees as she consumed them, struggling to press her eyes shut. Her scream chilled the night air as pain set her scalp aflame. She lifted her hands and drew blood as she clutched the crown of her head, her fingers tangled deep into her hair. The snake forced its way through her, rising as it drove a single primitive thought to the forefront of her mind.

_Eat_.

Medusa's eyes shone, and the town fell to its knees.

**xXx**

She was satisfied, at last. Her stomach no longer ached. Her eyes no longer burned when she opened them, and her naked flesh barely felt the stirring of the air as the wind whispered. The snake was quiet and content.

But her head was heavy.

Medusa stumbled towards a communal fountain at the centre of the town-square, despairing with fearful murmurs. She tripped over the petrified form of a child, hardly seeing it even as she fell. Her knee scraped hard across the ground and she gasped. But when she lifted herself up, she caught the shape of her shadow. Medusa shook her heavy head as she looked down, her voice small as she rejected what she glimpsed. Tearing her eyes away at last, she stumbled on towards the fountain.

The town was silent around her, the only sound that graced her ears being the soft gurgle of the fountain towards which she ran, hoping. Praying. Despairing. She fell again, this time blundering straight into the form of a man clutching his wife to him in their final moment. Brittle stone shattered as it struck the ground. Medusa pulled herself up blindly.

She fell as she reached the fountain, pulling herself forwards on hands and bloodied knees towards it. Her breasts crushed into the stone basin as she collapsed at its edge, pulling herself up to peer into the water. All was still.

Dark green snakes swayed silently atop her head, tangled in her thick, dark hair. One, its slick skin as orange as the burning sun, looked directly into the pool, meeting her gaze. She didn't breathe as she lifted a hand to her face. The skin of her hand had become mottled. Black scales crept upon her palm, reaching up to embrace her long fingers. Medusa's lip shivered as she lifted that hand to the peeling skin of her face. She pressed her nails into it, and slowly pulled.

She cried softly as the mask easily fell away. She couldn't help herself; she lifted her hand to her brow, pressed her nails in and drew them down once more. Her sorrow caught in her throat as the pale, perfect skin fell away and revealed the edge of a single, bulbous eye, planted at the centre of dark, rough, crusted skin.

"No", she whispered, lowering her shaking hand. Tears grew large and black at the corners of the eyes of her mask as Medusa's lips trembled, moving soundlessly as she tried to reject the truth.

"No", she said again, slowly shaking her heavy head. Tears splashed into the water, spreading corruption through it like poison in a wound. It turned black before her eyes. More tears fell as a choked cry escaped her.

"I hate you", she cried sorrowfully, clutching the edge of the pool tightly. "I hate you!"

Medusa sank down against the fountain's basin, splashing its edge with black tears as her body shook with sorrow.

"This world will _burn_", she sobbed, her voice nothing more than a ragged whisper, "and I will crush everything to dust. Everything..."

She lowered her face to her arms and wept.

Time passed, and all was still. The snakes atop her head lay quiet, silently flicking out their tongues. The single orange slithered down through her hair, pushing itself between her long, thick locks. It softly crept across her cheek, raising its head to the corner of her eye. Its tongue flicked out, bursting the bubble of an emerging tear. She lay there as it drank from her sorrow, her racked body growing still as she grew quiet and sombre.

She raised her head at last, and with her lips pressed together, lifted her eyes to gaze into the pool.

"This", she said softly, "is who I am".

The orange snake hissed, slithering down her cheek as she sucked in a deep breath. Medusa raised her hand and passed it slowly over the surface of her face, restoring the beautiful mask. The snake nuzzled its head against her palm as she held her hand close to it, drawing it to her perfect lips and kissing its cool skin softly. Without turning, she reached to her left and pulled a heavy cloak from the shoulders of a petrified woman, paying no mind to the crash as the stone form teetered and fell, shattering. Clothing her nakedness, Medusa pushed herself to her feet.

"I rise", she said, "as chaos. As death. As the rightful _Queen_".

Extending a black, scaled hand towards the poisoned fountain, the water stirred as it was drawn towards a focal point, beginning to cycle around it with growing speed. Medusa's eyes flashed and the black waters rose in funnel, spinning towards her outstretched hand. The waters gathered and twisted effortlessly into the shape of a staff, solidifying into a strange, solid substance. A blue serpent pulled its head from the depths of the water, hissing and flicking its tongue up at its brethren before curling around the head of the staff as it solidified.

Medusa lifted the staff and slammed it to the ground. The petrified bodies of the townspeople shattered as one, and a thick heavy dust gathered directly before Medusa as an invisible hand pulled it unto itself. The cloud grew bulbous, its shape shifting every few moments before Medusa touched the head of the staff to its centre and a tendril of darkness was born there, quickly thickening and spiralling within cloud of dust, infecting it from the core. Suddenly, the air was ripped apart as Medusa opened the gateways of the Underworld, the edges of the black rift spiking like knives into innocent flesh.

Before stepping through it to reclaim her kingdom, Medusa turned cold, hateful eyes to the sky. And with a whisper, she promised revenge.


End file.
